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Women write about PR too: some of the UK's top female bloggers

Yesterday, PR agency 10Yetis put together an updated list of the top 20 most influential UK PR bloggers, according to the Advertising Age Power 150 blogs list.

‘Head Yeti’ Andy Barr noted that recently there’s been a shuffle in response to a new ranking algorithm, and that there are far more British entries from a broader spread of companies that include SEO and PR, advertising and 'direct response specialists'.

But I, and others, noted that there's not one woman on the list.

Punch Communications, in at number 20, blogs as an agency group – with sharp commentators like Erica Whiteman included - as does We Are Social (see below). But there are no individuals mentioned.

Inevitably, this was flagged on Twitter. My feeling is that the majority of women I know blogging about PR fall into the same category as Punch – they blog as part of a group.

Additionally, during the process of putting this list together, Octopus Communications director Emily Wearmouth flagged a post by Aimée Morrison which suggests women are not as forthcoming when it comes to media opportunities or raising their own profile. It's an interesting read regardless of how you view the situation.

Now, this isn’t a ‘females are downtrodden’ post, since gender is a bit of a non-issue for me, but more of a suggestion of women who write excellent things about the PR landscape, to simply provide an alternative view.

I should also point out that I'm not a fan of separating out the sexes, there's no need to, but this should clear up some notable omissions.

This is by no means expansive either, so feel free to leave additions in the comments.

Candace Kuss, Hill & Knowlton. Candace is just one of the female members of the H&K team who blog regularly. She's been combining creative with interactive since 1990 and packs some serious punch.

Helen Nowicka, Porter Novelli. A former national news journalist, Helen spent eight years heading up The Red Consultancy but is now focused on digital and social media.

Joanne Jacobs, 1000heads. An Australian native, Joanna was UK based until very recently - when she went back home to become COO for the word of mouth agency.

Katy Howell, immediate future. Katy's blog is packed full of insight into the meeting of PR and social, with a clear voice that cuts through the noise.

Debby Penton, EML Wildfire. Co-owner and MD of Wildfire ahead of its merger with EML, Debby continues, as a director of the newly formed business, to draw on 15 years of traditional PR & marketing experience, putting in in context with today's consumer expectations.

Michelle Goodall, independent. Our own online PR, SEO PR and social media trainer, Michelle brings a wealth of knowledge to the table, joining the dots in a way very few are able to.

Gillian Radcliffe, London College of Communication. As head of comms, Gillian contribute to the CIPR's 'The Conversation' hub, with a unique view on educating young PR talent and how this is changing the future of the industry.

Becky McMichael, Ruder Finn. As head of strategy and innovation, Becky describes her style as 'media meets business with a digital twist'.

Nichola Stott, theMediaFlow. Nicohla provides more input into search, as owner of the SEO and social media agency and co-founder of SEO PR Training.

Tamara Littleton, eModeration. My wildcard, as eModeration's forte is its community insight. Not strictly 'PR' - but then, what is?

Catherine Warrilow, Publicity Oxford. Not only does Catherine have serious experience in regional PR, but also specialises in consumer PR and social media and for the toy & nursery, leisure and lifestyle sectors.

Sally Whittle, Blogger. Ed. Firm favourite of the PR blogosphere, Sally takes no prisoners when dishing out direct advice to PRs on working with journalists, as a former (and current) writer herself.

There are also those who blog as teams with notable insight from several women within each:

We Are Social: including Nicole Ghobrial, Leila Thabet (MD of newly formed New York office), Jess Elvidge and Sandrine Plasseraud from the Paris office.

Why thank you for the mention, what an honour! I too agree that the sexes do not need to be divided however it is so interesting to see that there is such a split - would be great to find out more too about what aspects of PR women lean towards blogging about. And very happy to have some great new reading material from the list above as well.

Was about to retweet in total agreement, however having read the list I'm not so sure. I read and interact with several brilliant female bloggers - but not many on this list. Some because they are new to me, some I do read, others I have to confess just don't create compelling content (for me personally). There are some far better UK PR female bloggers you've missed such as Heather Yaxley (@greenbanana). But, I guess that just shows why it is subjective. My list is different to yours.

Interesting post... since I too was finding it hard to find women in a specific tech industry. I actually wrote about this years ago... from there the idea grew into Top Women of SEO. We now have a nice list of 40 + women that have been added to the list. We have expanded our list to include women in marketing, branding, research and development.

While I tend to agree that sex should not play a role in a person capabilities to add value in a project. It's discouraging when you rarely see women in the mix, let alone being promoted as a viable option on any given project. The good ol boys mentality really needs to be put to rest. At this point in my career (25+ years) in business I can't help but get involved with any organization that helps to promote women in the high tech industry.

Look I've had my share of "sexist" comments and honestly I don't care. Ha! People can call me whatever they want, I will continue to mentor, assist, and promote women every chance I can. In my humble opinion they are not only more social, but have a better understanding on how to create a community. I'm not the only one who sees it that way. Every study, R&D & poll has women in the lead when it comes to social media, and connections.

Having read the Aimée Morrison blog post, I agree that confidence is an issue for a lot of women. We still live in a society that tells us our voices are not as important.

So as much as I think it's great that you've complied this list, I think the real issue is why this is happening in the first place. What can we do to encourage more women to trust their instincts and speak out?

Hi Vikki,
Interesting... Thanks for pointing this out.
Women are not promoting themselves in an efficiente way I think.
There is one meet up group trying to solve this: Samantha Noble Enhancing Your Profile in the SEO Industry - #DigitalFemales

over 5 years ago

Gillian Radcliffe

This is a great article but, as one of the female bloggers listed, I feel compelled to come clean. I do indeed feed through London College of Communications news to the CIPR Conversation but, in truth, most of these are written by LCC's excellent social media co-ordinator Michelle Lukins. Still a feather in the cap for the girls but not so much for me as for Michelle. As I recently left LCC, I'm going to have to stop our blog feed to the CIPR, regrettably, but it's great that the college's news about young PR and comms students has been noticed. Many thanks.

over 5 years ago

Alice Dinky Smith

I feel like I'm really a unicorn or I have missed some chromosome as I have been blogging for four years and on a daily basis I deal with PR's who don't get bloggers and have no idea how to communicate with us ....

Am I wrong plus or am I just being battered on a daily basis by the "wrong " people

Thanks for coming clean Gillian. Will Michelle not be continuing to blog herself? Makes much more sense to me that stopping all together.

@Alice You're definitely not alone! It's a problem that regularly crops up at events, and I think there are always going to be some people who ruin it for everyone. Sad to hear you say it's such a regular thing...

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